Breeding Chickpea for Improved Adaptation to the Semi-Arid Tropical Environments

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), also known as Garbanzo bean or Bengal gram, is the second most cultivated grain legume grown globally after dry bean (FAOSTAT data, 2007). It is cultivated annually on an area of about 10 million hectares over 50 countries. Over 80% of its area is in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) that encompass most of south Asia, parts of southeast Asia, a swathe across sub-Saharan Africa, much of southern and eastern Africa, and parts of Latin America. These regions are characterized by high atmospheric water demand, a high mean annual temperature, limited and erratic monsoonal rainfall, and nutrient poor soils. The major constraints to chickpea production in SAT include terminal drought and heat stresses, fusarium wilt and Helicoverpa pod borer. Soil salinity is also a major constraint to adaptation of chickpea in some areas, particularly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Australia. High instances of dry root rot are reported from Sub- Saharan Africa and India. India is the largest chickpea producing country with 64% of global chickpea production (FAOSTAT data, 2007). Chickpea is grown on 6.7 m ha from latitude 32°N in northern India with cooler, long-season environment to 10°N in southern India with warmer, short season environment. There has been a large, shift in chickpea area from north to central and southern India, mainly because of expansion in area under irrigation and wheat cultivation in northern India. During the past four decades, chickpea area declined by about 4.2 m ha in northern and north-eastern states (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) and increased by 2.6 m ha in central and southern states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh). This drastic shift in chickpea cultivation from cooler, long-season environments to warmer, short-season environments resulted in chickpeas being more prone to abiotic and biotic stresses that are prevalent in warm short season environments (e.g. terminal drought and heat stresses). The crop improvement efforts at ICRISAT and National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in SAT countries have largely focused on improving adaptation of chickpea to SAT environments by enhancing resistance/tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses prevalent in SAT environments. This paper reviews recent progress in breeding chickpea for improved adaptation to the SAT environments

Effect of a 2-week interruption in methotrexate treatment on COVID-19 vaccine response in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (VROOM study): a randomised, open label, superiority trial

Background: Methotrexate is the first-line treatment for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and reduces vaccine-induced immunity. We evaluated if a 2-week interruption of methotrexate treatment immediately after COVID-19 booster vaccination improved antibody response against the S1 receptor binding domain (S1-RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and live SARS-CoV-2 neutralisation compared with uninterrupted treatment in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Method: We did a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomised, superiority trial in secondary-care rheumatology and dermatology clinics in 26 hospitals in the UK. Adults (aged ≥18 years) with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases taking methotrexate (≤25 mg per week) for at least 3 months, who had received two primary vaccine doses from the UK COVID-19 vaccination programme were eligible. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) using a centralised validated computer program, to temporarily suspend methotrexate treatment for 2 weeks immediately after COVID-19 booster vaccination or continue treatment as usual. The primary outcome was S1-RBD antibody titres 4 weeks after COVID-19 booster vaccination and was assessed masked to group assignment. All randomly assigned patients were included in primary and safety analyses. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN11442263; following a pre-planned interim analysis, recruitment was stopped early. Finding: Between Sept 30, 2021, and March 7, 2022, we screened 685 individuals, of whom 383 were randomly assigned: to either suspend methotrexate (n=191; mean age 58·8 years [SD 12·5], 118 [62%] women and 73 [38%] men) or to continue methotrexate (n=192; mean age 59·3 years [11·9], 117 [61%] women and 75 [39%] men). At 4 weeks, the geometric mean S1-RBD antibody titre was 25 413 U/mL (95% CI 22 227–29 056) in the suspend methotrexate group and 12 326 U/mL (10 538–14 418) in the continue methotrexate group with a geometric mean ratio (GMR) of 2·08 (95% CI 1·59–2·70; p<0·0001). No intervention-related serious adverse events occurred. Interpretation: 2-week interruption of methotrexate treatment in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases enhanced antibody responses after COVID-19 booster vaccination that were sustained at 12 weeks and 26 weeks. There was a temporary increase in inflammatory disease flares, mostly self-managed. The choice to suspend methotrexate should be individualised based on disease status and vulnerability to severe outcomes from COVID-19. Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research

La experiencia de Birla Institute of Technology en las Actividades de Desarrollo Empresarial

Publicaciones Icesi No. 28 – Julio/Septiembre 1988. La experiencia de Birla Institute of Technology en las actividades de desarrollo empresarial de H.C.Pand

Mini Core collection as a resource to identify new sources of variation

In chickpea, bottlenecks associated with its domestication and low use of germplasm in improvement programs have resulted in a narrow genetic base and its vulnerability to abiotic and biotic stresses. The core and mini core collections, representing diversity in the entire collection, have been advocated for enhanced utilization of germplasm in crop improvement. A chickpea mini core (211 accessions) was evaluated for agronomic traits from 2000 and 2001 to 2003 and 2004 in post-rainy seasons under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. The published information on the response of chickpea mini core accessions to stress revealed that 40 accessions had resistance to abiotic stress, 31 to biotic stress, and 24 had no resistance to either of the stresses. The abiotic and biotic stress resistant groups had six accessions in common. The mini core collection accessions were also a part of composite collection accessions in chickpea, which was genotyped using 48 simple sequence repeats (SSRs; BMC Plant Biol. 8:106, 2008). The agronomic evaluation, stress response, and molecular profiling data on 93 accessions, including four controls, were used to identify genetically diverse germplasm with agronomically beneficial traits. A number of genetically diverse accessions possessing agronomically beneficial traits, such as ICC 440, 637, 1098, 3325, 3362, 4872, 7441, 8621, 9586, 10399, 12307, 14402, 15680, and 15686, which meet breeders’ needs, have been identified for use in breeding and genetics to map genomic regions associated with beneficial traits and as source materials for developing high yielding and widely adapted chickpea cultivars with multiple resistance to abiotic and biotic stress

No. 28 - Julio/Septiembre 1988 / PUBLICACIONES ICESI: Memorias Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano sobre Espiritu Empresarial

Publicaciones Icesi No. 28 – Julio/Septiembre 1988. Memorias Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano sobre Espíritu EmpresarialContenido: Intervención del doctor Federico Renjifo Vélez, viceministro de Desarrollo Económico -- Discurso de bienvenida a los participantes en el II Congreso Latinoamericano sobre Espíritu Empresarial -- Discurso de inauguración del II Congreso Latinoamericano sobre Espíritu Empresarial – La Asociación de Empresarios Universitarios – Los Programas de Junior Achievement en los Estados Unidos – La experiencia de Birla Institute of Technology en las actividad de desarrollo empresarial – Testimonio empresarial – La experiencia empresarial de Grajales Hermanos – Características de los empresarios de Cali y análisis comparativo con los empresarios de Cali – Perfil del empresario de la Universidad Eafit a nivel Nacional – La pequeña empresa como base de desarrollo económico social en Latinoamérica – La pequeña empresa mexicana – La Universidad Autónoma de Occidente y su Departamento de Gestión Empresarial -- Factores asociado al éxito y principales dificultades de profesionales empresarios de Cali – La formación del ingenierio-empresarial – El modelo de enseñanza aprendizaje en Unitec y la formación de empresarios – El espíritu emprendedor – Proyecto para la creación de un Centro de Formación de Empresas – Plan de negocio para una nueva empresa – Formación de creadores de empresa – Proyecto de desarrollo empresarial y tecnológico – Perfil de la mujer empresaria chilena